Quake II

Quake II
Developer(s)id Software[a]
Publisher(s)Activision[b]
Designer(s)
Programmer(s)
Artist(s)
Composer(s)Sonic Mayhem
SeriesQuake
EngineQuake II engine[12][c]
Platform(s)
Release
December 9, 1997
  • Microsoft Windows
  • Linux
    • WW: January 6, 1998[3]
  • Mac OS
  • Nintendo 64
  • PlayStation
  • Xbox 360
    • NA: November 18, 2005
    • EU: December 2, 2005
    • AU: March 23, 2006[10]
  • Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
    • WW: August 10, 2023
Genre(s)First-person shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Quake II is a 1997 first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Activision. It is the second installment of the Quake series, following Quake.[13]

Developed over the course of a year, Quake II was released on December 9, 1997. In contrast to the first game, which featured a combination of science fiction and fantasy elements, Quake II entirely drops the latter elements and is set during humankind's war against a rogue alien race known as the Strogg, half-mutant half-machine creatures whose homeplanet, Stroggos, is the target of the humans' invasion force. The player takes the role of a space marine (referred to as Bitterman) as he crash-lands on the planet and, being the last survivor of his squad, is tasked with completing a series of missions to cripple the Strogg and end their plans to conquer Earth. The game's storyline is continued in its expansions, including one tying in Quake II and the first game, and Quake 4. The game's heavy metal soundtrack was provided by Sascha Dikiciyan.

Besides its single player component, Quake II also uses a client/server network system similar to that of Quake for multiplayer. Unlike Quake, where hardware acceleration was only implemented through later patches, Quake II was released with native OpenGL support. Quake II was also the first id Software game not to be released for the then-deprecated MS-DOS operating system, rather running natively on Windows 95, with several ports to other systems following afterwards. The source code for Quake II was released by id Software under the GPL license on December 21, 2001.[14]

Quake II received critical acclaim on its release, and similarly to its predecessor is generally considered to be one of the best video games ever made.[15][16][17] An "enhanced" version of Quake II developed by Nightdive Studios was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S on August 10, 2023. It includes the original game and its two expansion packs, an episode consisting of the levels from the Nintendo 64 version of the game, and a brand new episode designed by MachineGames.[18]

  1. ^ "blue's Quake Rag - Nov. 29-Dec. 5, 1997 News". Blue's News. December 1997. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
    Quake II in the UK December 12: "id CEO Todd Hollenshead updated his .plan to announce that the expected shelf date for Quake II in the UK is December 12."
  2. ^ "White Hot Games for Christmas". The Age. December 11, 1997. p. 75. Retrieved May 1, 2024. Quake II//Due Friday!
  3. ^ Zoid (January 6, 1998). "Quake II for Linux". Blue's News. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  4. ^ "MacQuake II Available". Blue's News. July 1, 1999. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
  5. ^ "Quake II". Chipsworld. Archived from the original on May 24, 2003. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  6. ^ "Game Informer News". September 4, 1999. Archived from the original on September 4, 1999. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  7. ^ "Quake II sur PSone". Jeuxvideo.com (in French). Retrieved May 15, 2023.
  8. ^ "Quake II". Chipsworld. Archived from the original on April 27, 2001. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  9. ^ "PSX Nation: News". January 18, 2000. Archived from the original on January 18, 2000. Retrieved May 15, 2023.
  10. ^ Jastrzab, Jeremy (February 27, 2006). "Updated Australian release list, 27/02/06". PALGN. Archived from the original on January 11, 2009. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  11. ^ Fragmaster. "An Interview with id Software's John Cash". quakewiki.net. Archived from the original on November 15, 2017. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
  12. ^ Perry, Douglass (December 31, 1998). "THE REAL QUAKE II INTERVIEW". IGN.com. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
  13. ^ Lien, Tracey (December 7, 2012). "Quake 2 turns 15-years-old today". Polygon. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
  14. ^ Loli, Eugenia (December 22, 2001). "Quake 2 Source Code Released". OS News.
  15. ^ "The 100 Best Games of All Time". Edge. No. 80. January 2000.
  16. ^ "GameSpy's Top 50 Games of All Time". GameSpy. 2001. Archived from the original on June 4, 2004. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  17. ^ "We rank the 100 greatest videogames". Entertainment Weekly. May 13, 2003. Archived from the original on March 9, 2018. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  18. ^ Porter, Jon; Parrish, Ash (August 10, 2023). "Quake II is getting the remaster treatment". The Verge.


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